Mad Violin Skillz

2009 is shaping up to be an interesting year. In the last 24 hours, two heroes have entered my area of awareness: Sullenberger, the pilot of the US Airways jet that had to emergency land in the Hudson after the engines were taken out by geese, and our violin soloist this weekend, Leonidas Kavakos, who will be playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with a 103 degree fever.

That guy has got some mad violin skillz. I've written twice before on this blog about how the show must go on, and how ill or injured musicians can pull on amazing adrenaline reserves, kinda like car crash victims, but the Tchaikovsky takes some serious chops to pull off, and this guy has got chops to spare. A regular well-stocked charcuterie, that one, no shortage of chops there, even in times of dire virus.

OK I admit to my pro-Kavakos bias. He is a fellow Greek, and well, there isn't a huge Greek classical music tradition compared to, say, Germany. Some people would even put forth that the highlight of Greek classical culture ended over two millenia ago. To them, I say.... we've got Callas- and Kavakos-among others, so just shut up and finish your spanakopita like a good little hypocrite (Hypocrite comes from from Greek hupocrits, actor, from hupokrnesthai, to play a part, pretend...yes, we Greeks really do on occasion behave like that movie).

From a string players perspective, Kavakos is da bomb. In the last 50 years, American conservatories have turned out well-oiled violinists like clockwork. They are all quite pleasant to listen to and easily identified as to the location of their factory (to continue my awful metaphor) by a few telling characteristics. Kavakos, who was trained mainly in Greece and then a little while in America, defies all expectations and boundaries. He is his own artist, a consummate storyteller, and fever or no, it will be a concert to remember.